Tuesday, November 4, 2008

The speech of Ghada Jamsheer in the reception hosted in honor of the Ambassador of Peace, date 21.10.08

The speech of Ghada Jamsheer in the reception hosted in honor of the Ambassador of Peace, date 21.10.08

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

At the outset, I would like to welcome Pastor Ameal Haddad and Pastor Garry Ansdell, founders of the Ambassador of Peace Initiative. May I also welcome Ambassadors, diplomats, religious clergy, and the ladies and gentlemen attending here today. May the peace and grace of God be upon you all.

It is my sincere pleasure to meet you at my residence, at this gathering of enlightened minds and people of peace, love and brotherhood. We welcome you as our dear guests in the Kingdom of Bahrain, which is home to many different races, religions, languages and colours, and hope that this gathering will be successful.

Religious dialogue and understanding have been unique characteristics of the Kingdom of Bahrain since ancient times, in a nation where we find Muslims living next to Christians, Jews, Hindus, Baha'is, and Zoroastrians in peace and tranquillity. In recent years, the Kingdom of Bahrain has seen many positive developments in various aspects of religious tolerance including, for example, an increase in places of religious worship to more than nineteen church and temples in a country of less than one million citizens, the vast majority of whom are followers of Islam.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Religions exist for the benefit of humanity, and to keep people on the right path. They work also to promote the happiness, welfare and prosperity of all humanity, to protect human beings from enslavement or exploitation by others, and to deliver us from human tyranny, and into God’s realm, since the source of these religions is the Creator of mankind. These religions have come to guide humanity to happiness, while shunning hatred, violence, and terrorism, creating instead a close, peaceful and harmonious society.

We gather today for dialogue and understanding, as such dialogue is the path of cooperation and exchange of ideas and opinions. Islam has always called for dialogue, understanding and coexistence. The Almighty God said in the Holy Book, the Koran:

"O people of the Scripture Come to a word that is just between us and you"

The origin of the relations between peoples is based on peace and love, not hatred and conflict. Each one of us has his own religion, thought and ideology, which others should respect and accept.

The wisdom of Almighty God has made differences in human beliefs, thoughts and customs – if He wished, He would make all people one nation, but He wished differences to exist. This is proof of God’s respect for our human individuality and mind, and of His wish to make human beings think for themselves to reach the right path.

Let us go back, dear brothers and sisters, to the time of the Prophet, when we find the Prophet married a Jewish lady by the name of Safia, who is remembered as being proud to say “my husband is Mohammed, my father is Aaron, and my uncle is Moses”. Our dear Prophet married also Maria, who was Coptic, so as to purge the soul of any prejudice against such marriages, and to demonstrate to the whole world that we are one nation, and that we are all descendants of Adam and Eve. The Prophet’s marriages are clear indications that He is a brother of the Messengers of God, and that He came to complete the messages of his Brothers. The Prophet instructed us to be good with Copts, when he said:

“you will conquer Egypt, which calls its people Copts. If you conquer it, be gentle with its people, since they are related to us”

In conclusion, we appreciate our dear guests attending this function, we thank you for your efforts to avoid division, which concentrate on bringing together people through tolerance and coexistence between different religions. We hope that this experiment will succeed in the near future.